• Cats travelled with Vikings!
• This is one of the findings in a study of DNA sequenced from 290 cats which came from 30 archaeological sites in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
• According to the study performed by Eva-Maria Geigl and colleagues from the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris, cats spread across the world in 2 waves.
• First at the birth of agriculture in eastern Mediterranean and second when they moved from Egypt to Asia and Africa, most likely through seafaring people such as Vikings.
• In both cases, cats were most likely kept around because of their ability to keep rodent numbers down.
• Some proof? A cat with Egyptian mitochondrial DNA was found on a Viking site in Northern Germany dating between 700 and 1000 AD!

Read more:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/smart-news/dna-study-details-spread-cats-around-world-180960573/

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/179245/20160924/cats-sailed-with-vikings-during-sea-voyages-ancient-feline-dna-reveals.htm

http://culturess.com/2016/09/25/vikings-really-loved-cats-historical-feline-facts/

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